My .02 on the whole Doom-calling-Carol-Danvers-nasty-names thing:
I agree that that whole speech doesn't sound quite Doomlike, but I think a lot of it is really just vocabulary.
Well, apart from the "fat piece of furniture" thing--Doom usually comments on things where he feels superior to his foes, and any aspect of physical appearance isn't really one of those. (Well, maybe he'd go that way with Ben Grimm, but that's partly because he knows that's a sore point. If he's calling Ms. Marvel fat, it's because he thinks that she thinks that, and I don't think there's any sign that he does.)
I've heard folks say that Doom wouldn't say such things to a woman, that Doom is relatively chivalrous to women--but you know, and of course I'm just thinking off the top of my head here, usually when he's being all polite and offering the ladies wine and so forth, it's when he's got them prisoner in his castle. The male members of the team are maybe in the dungeon. He's not in any immediate personal potential danger. So he invites the lady of the team for dinner in his fabulous dining room. It's a show of power. Also an indication that he doesn't really consider her a threat (so at least sexist, if not necessarily misogynistic).
He's less...courteous in the heat of battle, and he seems to be in that mindset here. I gather, though, that his speech is supposed to reflect his uncertainty in this situation, and therefore has a narrative purpose (although I think it's debatable whether Doom would ever be at a loss for just the right words under any circumstances).
Oh, and Wonder Man? "You're not fat!" says he to Carol. Simon, apparently, does think that Carol thinks she's fat.
As a side-note, I don't think that it's unreasonable for some super-types to have a few body issues. Particularly someone like Carol, who has (in her own book) been portrayed as concerned with her public image, even hiring someone to deal with public relations for her. People do, especially those who spend a lot of time in the limelight. Now, if it were Black Widow who was shown wondering about this stuff, I'd cry foul. But Carol? Not inconsistent with the way she's been written over the last few years.
5 comments:
I dunno. I found Bendis' version of Doom to be completely lacking in grandeur. His dialogue shouldn't be interchangeable with a common thug. Doom is many things, but commoon, he is not.
Why wasn't he referring to himself in the third person? Or blaming everything on Richards?
i didn't have any beef with his statement. doom is just trying to shut her up and calling her furniture seems like the perfect insult for eurotrash like doom, also he may be a skrull so it doesn't matter.
Bah Doom would use classier insults. He must be a skrull. It just doesn't sound like Doom at all. And hello, if you think you're fat, you wouldn't be running around in that outfit. You'd be finding something loose and flattering... Spandex is NOT flattering if you have an ounce of extra flesh. At least a little skirt added on to hide your waist.
I think it's reflexive feminist outrage that's gotten this so much notice, but there is a serious issue with Bendis's inability to write characters in their own voice.
Hated the dialog, but to fan wank it...Doom would use the precise insult he knows would make his foe lose composure. And talking to carol like she was a secretary working at 1950s era IBM would do it.
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